Caring for Kisshu
by kisshuismylife
Summary: Set after the events of Episode 39. The next day, Ichigo finds Kisshu collapsed in her room. Sorry the summary sucks, but I don't want to give the whole thing away. R&R please!


**Caring for Kisshu**

Ichigo sighed. She was still troubled by the events of yesterday. Pai and Taruto had used a new Chimera Anima to trap the other Mews in her dream, and Kisshu had saved them all. Then he tried to kill her, but collapsed before he got that far. Pai and Taruto had taken him back with them, and Ichigo assumed that they would care for his injury, but she was still worried.

_Wait, why am I worrying about Kisshu? _she thought. _I hate him- right? He's always trying to ruin my life and my relationship with Aoyama-kun. He's trying to destroy everything and everyone I care about. But…. he saved my life. I hate to admit it, but I think that's more than Aoyama ever did for me. And by doing that, he's basically betraying his leader…_

Still walking, Ichigo realized she had gone straight past her house. Sighing, she backtracked, and went to her front door. It was locked, which meant her parents were gone again. She unlocked it and went in, then took her shoes off and went to her room.

As soon as she went through the door, her jaw hit the floor. Kisshu was lying on her floor, looking like he had collapsed. _I thought Pai and Taruto took him back! Why is he here, and why didn't they do anything about his injury? _Ichigo wondered. She cautiously went over and knelt next to Kisshu, then gently turned him over. His injury was bandaged, but Ichigo could see blood trying to leak through the bandages.

Not wanting to make things worse, Ichigo gently put a hand on Kisshu's cheek, saying softly, "Kisshu, wake up." Kisshu didn't even stir, and Ichigo tried again.

Fifteen minutes later, Ichigo had tried everything except poking Kisshu's injury to wake him up, and nothing had worked. _I don't like Kisshu- but it's not like I want him to die, _she thought. Sighing, she picked Kisshu up, and put him on her bed. She put a hand on his forehead, and sighed, relieved. He didn't have a fever. Ichigo covered Kisshu with the blankets, then settled down next to him.

By about 11 that night, Ichigo was both tired and worried. Kisshu hadn't even stirred, and she was beginning to wonder if he was in a coma. _I don't exactly know what the symptoms of a coma are, though, so it's going to be hard to figure this out, _Ichigo thought. _I also can't call a hospital; we'll both get arrested. And if Blondie finds out, he'll have my head for this. But I'm too tired to think about it; I'll see how Kisshu's doing tomorrow._

That decided, Ichigo pulled out a sleeping bag and climbed into it, then promptly fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up late. It was winter vacation for another week, so she didn't have anywhere to go. Ryou had actually closed the Café for a week, after Ichigo and the other Mews nearly got killed.

Ichigo got up and checked on Kisshu, who was still unconscious. _Maybe he IS in a coma, _she thought. _If that's true, though, I guess he'll be here awhile. And what's going to happen when this week is up? I've got school and the Café, not to mention if Pai and Taruto attack, it's going to be hard to explain why I can't come. Unless…. My parents are gone again; if I ignore my pendant and only answer on my cell phone, maybe Ryou will believe it if I tell him my parents dragged me off on some trip. I guess I'd better start locking the house up- and closing curtains._

Ichigo locked her windows, and closed the curtains. Then she started going around the house locking up everything, even the basement and the bathroom. She closed every curtain in the house, and went back upstairs.

Seeing that Kisshu was still unconscious, she gathered up some fresh clothes and went to take a shower.

As she let the water flow over her body, she thought. _Why would Pai and Taruto bring Kisshu back, only to kick him out again? _she wondered. _It doesn't make any sense. I mean, they're friends- or at least teammates. You don't abandon your comrades without a very good reason. Unless it has something to do with Kisshu saving me; but if that was the case, why didn't they just leave him on the roof after he saved us?_

Ichigo sighed as she turned off the water. None of this made sense, and another thing that bothered her was why Kisshu had come HERE, of all places. Going to your worst enemy and then collapsing didn't seem like a very smart thing to do. _Though considering the amount of time Kisshu spends stalking me, he might know that I'm really not cut out for killing people, _she thought.

Ichigo got dressed and went back to her room to do her hair. Until Kisshu woke up, there really wasn't much she could do.

_**Three days later: **_Ichigo had decided Kisshu was in a coma, and had no idea what to do about this mess. The week would be up soon, and she knew she couldn't leave Kisshu here alone, in a coma or not. _I wonder if Moe and Miwa would know what I should do…. _Ichigo thought. _I know they know about me; I guess I'll call Miwa._

She picked up her cell phone and scrolled through her Contacts, pressing send when she reached Miwa's number.

After a few rings, Miwa asked, _"Ichigo? Is this about Aoyama?"_

"Uh… no," Ichigo said. "I've got an emergency that I need help with; are you and Moe free?"

"_Yeah, I'll get Moe and come over," _Miwa said. _"See you soon."_

"Bye," Ichigo said, and hung up. _I wonder what she meant by 'is this about Aoyama'? _Ichigo wondered. Shaking it off, she settled down to wait for Moe and Miwa.

Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Ichigo ran to get it. She opened the door to see Moe and Miwa looking kind of grim. "Uh…. did something happen?" Ichigo asked as she let them in and closed the door behind them.

"You didn't hear?" Moe asked.

"Hear what?" Ichigo asked.

"Aoyama was killed in a car crash," Miwa said. "It was all over the news; his dad was apparently driving him and his mom back from some trip, and some truck pulled out in front of them. Mr. Aoyama apparently wasn't able to stop in time, and their car literally exploded. He and Aoyama were killed on impact, and Mrs. Aoyama's in critical condition in the hospital. They're not sure she'll survive either."

Ichigo was literally in shock. She buried her face in her hands, and started sobbing. Miwa hugged her. "We're sorry, Ichigo," she said. "We know you really loved him." Moe came over and hugged her too.

It was a while before Ichigo calmed down a bit. Moe saw she was calmer, and said, "You said you had some kind of emergency here. Is there something we can help with?"

"You know I'm Mew Ichigo, right?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah," Miwa said.

"And I told you about Kisshu," Ichigo continued.

"Yep," Moe said. "Did something happen?"

"I found him collapsed on my bedroom floor three days ago, and I think he's in a coma," Ichigo said. "He was pretty badly injured in one of our battles, but I thought Pai and Taruto took him back to their base- at least until three days ago. And now I have no clue what to do about him, because he's not waking up, and I can't just leave him here alone."

"Where is he?" Miwa asked.

"My room," Ichigo said.

"Let's go," Miwa said. She headed upstairs, followed by Moe and Ichigo.

When Moe and Ichigo reached Ichigo's room, Miwa said, "I don't think he's in a coma, but I don't know why he's not waking up. What have you tried?"

"Everything I could think of besides poking his wound," Ichigo said. "And I don't think that's a very good idea…."

"You're right," Miwa said. Suddenly it looked like she had an idea, and asked, "Do you think his ears are sensitive?"

"To sound, but I already tried yelling, and that didn't work," Ichigo said.

Miwa looked thoughtful, then said, "I wonder if it would hurt if I pinched his ear…."

"You can try," Ichigo said.

Miwa pinched Kisshu's ear, hard. To the girls' surprise, his eyes shot open, and he yanked his head away from Miwa's hand, then winced. Ichigo came over and asked, "Kisshu, are you okay?"

"Koneko… chan….?" Kisshu asked weakly. "Why are you here?"

"It's my room," Ichigo said. "Do you remember what happened?"

Kisshu thought, then said, "I think Pai knocked me out. The last thing I remember is hearing teleportation, but I'm unable to teleport right now, so it was probably Pai. I don't know why he would send me to your room, though…."

"Two possibilities," Miwa said. "One is that he was hoping Ichigo would take care of you because he can't for some reason, but the other is that he was hoping she'd take the burden of killing you off of him."

"Great…. my best friend wants me dead," Kisshu said gloomily.

"Look on the bright side, Ichigo didn't kill you and is currently taking care of you," Moe said.

"Does Ichigo love me?" Kisshu asked.

"Why not ask her?" Moe suggested.

"Because she'll deny it no matter what," Kisshu said dryly.

Miwa sighed and said, "Ichigo has some feelings for you, but they're being suppressed by her hatred of being called a toy. Stop the toy comments, and she'll probably fall head over heels in love with you."

"So she doesn't love the treehugger?" Kisshu asked hopefully.

"If you mean Aoyama, he died in a car crash two days ago," Miwa said. "If you start gloating, we'll take you down, got it?"

"No gloating?" Kisshu asked sadly. "But I like gloating. Like the time Taruto got grounded for six months. Gloating about that was FUN!"

"Do you even care that my previous boyfriend is dead?" Ichigo asked.

"Considering the fact that he was Deep Blue's human host AND in my way- no," Kisshu said bluntly.

"Wait, he was Deep Blue's human host?" Ichigo asked.

"Yup," Kisshu said. "Why do you think I never actually killed him?"

Ichigo was speechless, and Kisshu continued, "I could easily have killed him, but that would get me killed by my own people, so I didn't do it."

"Did he know?" Ichigo asked.

"I doubt it, but I bet the reason he went out with you was because he was subconsciously attracted to the power in you," Kisshu said.

"He told me he thought I was special…." Ichigo said.

"And he's right," Kisshu said. "But I think it's better if he's dead; if he became Deep Blue, he would only see you as an enemy- or a pathetic human. And then your heart would be broken, and taking him down would be next to impossible, at least for you."

"How do you know all this, anyways?" Ichigo asked, a bit disgruntled.

"My talent is heightened perception," Kisshu said. "I got that from my dad. And no offense, but you're pretty easy to read; you wear your emotions on your sleeve."

"Mmph," Ichigo said. Suddenly her cell phone rang, and Miwa looked at it. "Blondie," she said. Then she smirked and picked up. Before Ryou could say anything, Miwa said in a creepy voice, "You have seven days to live." Then she hung up, and they all burst out laughing.

"Nice one," Kisshu said when they had calmed down a bit.

Ichigo's cell phone rang before Miwa could respond, and she picked up, then said, "Hi Ryou, what's up?"

"_Were you the one who told me I have seven days to live?" _Ryou asked suspiciously.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Ichigo said. "Is that your only reason for calling?"

"_The computers detected alien activity at your house, would you care to explain yourself?" _Ryou asked.

"That's the fourth time in two weeks!" Ichigo said. "Go get new computers; there's no one here but me, Moe, and Miwa."

"_Did you tell them?" _Ryou asked warily.

"No, they guessed," Ichigo said. "So then I told them everything. They won't tell, so don't worry about it."

Ryou sighed, but before he could say anything, Moe grabbed the phone out of Ichigo's hand and asked Ryou, "Can we go back to plotting your untimely demise now?"

"_YOU'RE PLOTTING TO KILL ME!?" _Ryou yelled.

"Yes, of course," Moe said. "That's why Miwa told you that you have seven days to live. You wrecked our best friend's life; you'll be getting your comeuppance soon."

"_If you're so into killing people, why don't you go kill the aliens?" _Ryou asked disgruntledly.

"Because we're trying to set Ichigo up with Kisshu, and that's not going to work if he's dead," Moe said. "If you don't mind, we're off to dig Ichigo's dad's sword out of the basement. We already stole his flamethrower, so our preparations are almost complete. Last chance to move to America, where we can't get you."

"_What about the Mew Project?" _Ryou asked.

"Keiichiro's nice, so he'll be left alive," Moe said. "YOU, on the other hand, won't be recognizable as human when we're through."

"_I'm coming over to annihilate you two," _Ryou snarled, and hung up.

"That went well," Ichigo said dryly. "You can take him to the basement; I'd rather not throw up today. And don't use the laundry room; my mom will freak."

"'Kay!" Moe and Miwa said happily. "Hey, can we wait in the bushes and ambush him?"

"Be my guest," Ichigo said. "Just try not to get shot, 'kay?"

"We won't," Moe said. "We'll be back when he's dead."

"I'm sure you will," Ichigo said dryly.

Moe and Miwa skipped out, cackling. Kisshu looked up at Ichigo and asked, "Have they always been like that?"

"Yup," Ichigo said. She noticed he looked tired, and asked, "Kisshu, do you want to go back to sleep?"

"Can you stay?" Kisshu asked sleepily.

"Sure," Ichigo said. She sat down on the bed with him, and smoothed his hair back as he fell asleep. She was amazed by how soft Kisshu's hair was, and continued stroking it gently. To her surprise, he leaned into her hand, sighing happily.

Unfortunately, this calm was shattered fifteen minutes later by Ryou screaming, "GET OFF OF ME!"

Kisshu woke up with a start, and asked, "Is Blondie here?"

"Sounds like it," Ichigo said, as the front door opened.

They heard Ryou shout, "ICHIGO! HELP! YOUR INSANE FRIENDS ARE GOING TO KILL ME!"

Ichigo sighed and got up, then went to the top of the stairs and called, "Could you be a little quieter about your last minutes on Earth? I'm trying to read!"

"I'M GOING TO COME BACK AND HAUNT YOU FOR THIS!" Ryou shouted.

"Well, then I guess me and Moe will have to exorcize you," Miwa said calmly. "Although I don't think you'll be getting out of hell long enough to haunt people."

"Ichigo, you can go back to your book," Moe called. "We'll handle Blondie."

"MY NAME IS NOT BLONDIE!" Ryou shouted angrily.

"Oh right, it's Radioactive Butter Boy," Miwa said. "Moe, remember not to touch his hair, you'll burn yourself."

"Grr…." Ryou said as he got dragged to the basement. Ichigo sighed and went back to her room.

Kisshu was still awake, but he was looking tired. "Kisshu, go back to sleep," Ichigo said, sitting down with him. Kisshu sighed and settled back, and fell back to sleep. Ichigo went back to stroking his hair, and he leaned into her hand again.

About an hour later, Ichigo heard running water, and assumed Moe and Miwa were done. Sure enough, they came into her room grinning ear to ear a minute later. Ichigo held a finger to her lips, and carefully got up. To her surprise, Kisshu seemed to sense she was leaving; he made a small whimpering noise in his sleep.

"It's okay, we'll tell you later," Moe whispered. "We cleaned up, by the way."

"Thanks," Ichigo whispered back. She settled back down next to Kisshu, and started stroking his hair again. He sighed happily, and settled down again. Moe and Miwa left, and Ichigo continued stroking Kisshu's hair.

Two hours later, Ichigo was startled by her phone ringing, and Kisshu started to wake up as she looked at the caller ID. It was Keiichiro, and she sighed, then picked up. "Hi Keiichiro, what's up?" she asked.

"_Have you seen Ryou?" _Keiichiro asked.

"No, why?" Ichigo asked.

"_He said he was going to your place to make sure you weren't brainwashed," _Keiichiro said. _"Is everything okay?"_

"Everything's fine, and I'm not brainwashed," Ichigo said.

"_I know Kisshu's there, Ichigo," _Keiichiro said. _"Can you tell me what's going on? I want to form a truce too, but Ryou is a problem."_

"You're not going to call the police?" Ichigo asked warily.

"_I'd get arrested too, the Mew Project is illegal," _Keiichiro said dryly.

"Fine…" Ichigo said. "The day after Kisshu saved us, I found him on my bedroom floor, and I didn't want him to die, so I just decided to take care of him. I called Moe and Miwa today because he was still unconscious, and Miwa woke him up. Then Ryou called, saying the computers had detected alien activity here, and I told him the computers were malfunctioning. Then Miwa told him that she and Moe were plotting his demise, and he said he was coming over to annihilate them. So they dragged him down to the basement and apparently killed him. They're not going to take you down, though. Apparently you're too nice to be taken down."

"_I think I'm too nice, period," _Keiichiro sighed. _"Moe and Miwa really killed him?"_

"Yup," Ichigo said. "Frankly, if we want to form a truce, we'd either have to lock him up or kill him, so it's better this way. I know you're probably sad, and I'm sorry, but he's dangerous to have around."

Keiichiro sighed. _"How's Kisshu doing?" _he asked.

"He's still pretty weak, and his injury isn't healed yet," Ichigo said. "And apparently Pai left him here; we think because he wanted me to kill him."

"_That's bad," _Keiichiro said. _"If Pai wants Kisshu dead, we're going to have problems forming a truce."_

"Kisshu says Aoyama was Deep Blue's human host," Ichigo said. "With him out of the picture, maybe Pai will see reason."

"_I guess we'll have to let things play out," _Keiichiro said.

"Yeah," Ichigo said- just as teleportation sounded. Pai appeared, and Ichigo said, "I have to go." Then she hung up, and looked at Pai.

"Mew Ichigo, what happened to Deep Blue?" Pai asked.

"His human host was killed in a car crash," Ichigo said. "If you're here to kill Kisshu, I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Pai sighed. "I'm not here to kill Kisshu," he said. "I was forced to kick him out. Taruto and I weren't supposed to bring him back, much less care for his injury, but we did. I found out Deep Blue was threatening to capture my parents, and so I sent Kisshu here, since he seems to think you're incapable of killing people."

"I am," Ichigo said. "Do you want to form a truce? My school friends demolished Ryou."

"I don't mind forming a truce," Pai said. "Should I go talk with Keiichiro after I heal Kisshu?"

"Good plan, he wants to form a truce too," Ichigo said. She looked down at Kisshu, who was awake, and asked softly, "Kisshu, is that okay?"

"It's fine," Kisshu said. "About time you realized it, Pai."

Pai sighed and came over, then asked, "Are you able to sit up?"

"No," Kisshu said gloomily.

Pai helped him sit up, and helped him take his shirt off. Then he unwound the bandages, and helped Kisshu lie back down. He put a hand on Kisshu's chest, and said, "Ichigo, stay quiet."

Ichigo nodded as his hand began to glow. She watched with interest as the wound in Kisshu's chest started to heal, noticing Kisshu was falling asleep again.

Fifteen minutes later, there was nothing but a scar left of the injury on Kisshu's chest, and Kisshu was fast asleep. "He needs to sleep off the healing," Pai told Ichigo softly. "He's still not back to full strength, so I think he'll need two more days of taking it easy before he can go back to getting up and doing things. Can you make something for him to eat? I'll stay with him."

"Okay," Ichigo said. She got up carefully, then left and went down to the kitchen to make chicken noodle soup.

About an hour later, it was done, and Ichigo put some in a large bowl, grabbed a spoon, and went back upstairs. She found Pai still sitting next to Kisshu, but Kisshu was waking up. Ichigo went over as he opened his eyes, and asked, "Kisshu, are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Kisshu said. "How long was I out, anyways?"

"Nearly four days," Ichigo said. "And nothing I did would wake you up. I thought you were in a coma, but I guess not."

"I was unconscious for FOUR DAYS!?" Kisshu asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and you didn't wake up till Miwa pinched your ear," Ichigo said. "Do you want some soup?"

"What kind is it?" Kisshu asked.

"Chicken noodle," Ichigo said. "Can you sit up?"

Kisshu tried, but fell back, still too weak to sit up. Ichigo came over and sat down with him, then spooned up some soup, and said, "Open up."

Kisshu obeyed, and Ichigo started feeding him the soup. By the time it was gone, Kisshu was looking worn out again, and Ichigo put the bowl and spoon on her desk, then sat back down with Kisshu, and started stroking his hair as she said softly, "Kisshu, get some more rest. I'll be right here."

"Thanks…." Kisshu said sleepily. Soon after, he was sound asleep.

About six hours later, Ichigo was really tired, and she looked at Pai, then said, "I'm too tired to stay up any later. You can have the guest room, if you want."

"Where are you sleeping?" Pai asked.

"My sleeping bag," Ichigo said. "Which, by the way, you're sitting on."

"Sorry," Pai said. "Which room is the guest room?"

"Diagonally to the left across the hall," Ichigo said.

"Thanks," Pai said, and headed out. Ichigo carefully got off the bed and climbed into her sleeping bag, then fell asleep.

The next morning, she was awakened by her cell phone, and got up, sighing, to look at the caller ID. It was Keiichiro, and she picked up, then asked, "What's up, Keiichiro?"

"_Is Pai over there too?" _Keiichiro asked.

"Yeah, why?" Ichigo asked, as Pai came into the room.

"_I'd like to talk with him," _Keiichiro said.

Ichigo looked at Pai and said, "Keiichiro wants to talk with you. I doubt it's anything bad; my school friends demolished Ryou, so he's not a problem anymore."

"Okay," Pai said. Ichigo handed him the phone, and he went out into the hallway. Ichigo went to Kisshu, who was awake now, and asked, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I feel stronger," Kisshu said. "I still don't think I can stand up, though."

"Can you sit up?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu tried, and didn't have too much trouble. He pulled the pillows up, and leaned back against them. "Well, that's a definite improvement," Ichigo said.

Pai came back before Kisshu could respond, and said, "Keiichiro wants to set up peace talks now that Deep Blue is gone. He thinks he has enough Mew Aqua to restore our planet, and if we get exiled, he's got two open rooms."

"Kisshu can live here," Ichigo said. "So that would work fine. I assume we're doing this when Kisshu's recovered?"

"Yes," Pai said. "When Kisshu's back to full strength, Keiichiro will call up the other Mews, and we'll work this out."

"That's great," Kisshu said. "Now we can save our people, and I still get Ichigo."

"Did you ask first?" Pai asked.

Kisshu sighed. Ichigo giggled and said, "Kisshu, if you want me to be yours, you have to be mine too."

Kisshu perked up. "Okay!" he said. "So does that mean I'm your boyfriend?"

"Yup," Ichigo said.

Kisshu smiled happily, and pulled her onto his lap, then kissed her.

**Okay, I know it's a bad ending, but I didn't want to have this turn into a multi-chapter story, so… yeah. I hope you enjoyed it, and rest assured, I'll work on other things soon. Please Review!**


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